Mean Vanilla Bean - Maple Bourbon Barrel-Aged
Drafting Table Brewing Company

 

can pour (2023 edition) - pours jet black with a light colored head. Not thicc. Got to let this one approach room temps to get the vanilla and maple barrel to unlock at all. The vanilla really comes up, and the maple barrel provides notes along the finish.

Pours black with a couple fingers of khaki foam. This can is right around 11 months old, and yet the head formation and retention is still good. Some heavy oil sticks around the glass after a swirl of the dark liquid. Aroma is vanilla bean right out front with more subtle maple behind. Despite the sugary sweet mix of these two, bourbon, and heavy roasty & toasty malts ground and balance it out. Char and a little toffee draw things to a close, inviting a sip. Flavor profile is just as heavy, but splits a more even balance between vanilla bean and maple syrup. Roasty and toasty malts are still hearty, simmering over smooth bourbon and a light bite of char. Despite the ABV, it's never hot. Part of this may be that it opens up sweet and closes at a net balance. Mouth feel is medium-thick with a smooth texture that seems to be smoothered out flat by alcohol and time in the barrel. For these reasons, it doesn't drink huge, despite being a big beer. Overall, lovely blend of vanilla bean and maple, with a good kick of bourbon to mix it up. It's got a lot going on, and despite the ABV, remains well focused on balance. Fun sipper.

Served in a 15.5oz Speigelau tulip from a 16oz can. Canned 03/01/2022. Consumed/reviewed 02/08/2023.

Canned on 3/13/20; consumed on 11/14/20

Pours a clean, glossy black body sporting the vaguest of mahogany edges and a sliver of frothy, dark tan head, which fades quickly to some paper-thin, spotty islands of cap, a thin, creamy collar, and strands of dense, webby lacing layering the walls of the glass.

Aroma offers a vivid, almost bakery-like display upfront, highlighting burnt brownie, brûléed caramel, and rich confectionery sugar upon first impression; maple hard candies mesh with dark fruits and wisps of nutty brittle over the middle before closing with fresh, bourbon-soaked cookie dough balanced in sweetness by an ever-present, lightly roasted malt profile.

Taste opens with decadent notes of brownie batter contrasted with a steady, roasted malt profile, bringing charry tobacco and hints of dark cherry to accent the mid-palate against a toasted marshmallow sweetness; a more rounded oak and barrel presence on the back end, with dark chocolate and smooth vanilla bean lingering.

Mouthfeel shows a medium-full body and low carbonation supplemented by an oily texture verging on syrupy into the mid-palate, where it's cut by a vague grit toward a drying finish with a dusty, nutty character and moderate warmth through the finish.

Minimally adjuncted yet saturated in sweeter tones, this stout is deeply layered, though avoids challenging the palate; the vanilla expresses comprehensively and the barrel presence is in contrast toned down, though even in a supportive role lends enough oaky nuance to temper the beer's most cloying characteristics and leave it an enjoyably rich sipper.